The Humble Behavior of the Christian.

By Nick Bibile

1Co 13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.

The last part of this scripture, apostle Paul says, that love is not proud.  It has a different behavior.  Christian love is opposite to proud behavior.  There are two degrees of behavior, high and low.  Before we became Christians we had a prideful behavior. As we took that nature from Satan.  We had a proud spirit.  But the regenerated Christian has a spirit of humility.

True humility is a sign of regeneration

We were so prideful as a tall mountain, our goal was to show off how intelligent I was in my education, how smart I was in my wisdom, how talented I was in my profession, how beautiful or handsome I was in my appearance. But inside I was crooked and evil. When the Lord came he flattened the mountain that was tall.
Lu 3:4 As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;

Php 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
If we are in him we become like him. We are in the word, and abiding in Christ then we become like him.
Mt 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

There is humility in prayer

Jacob
Ge 32:9  And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:
 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.
Ezra
Ezr 9:6 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.
Solomon
1Ki 3:7 And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.
Tax Collector
Lu 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

What is humility?

Jonathan Edwards said, "Humility may be defined to be a habit of mind and heart corresponding to our comparative unworthiness and vileness before God, or a sense of our own comparative meanness in his sight, with the disposition to a behavior answerable thereto."

What he is saying here in simple language is that humility is to be a habit of mind and heart, meaning humility is natural to us, it is a habit and not something that we will say, "Now I am in the church so let me put on humility" No it is a habit of mind and heart, that comes naturally.  Why? We live daily in the very presence of God, and in the presence of God we are unworthy and vile, in the presence of God we are brought down low.

Ps 113:4 The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.
 5 Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high,
 6 Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!

The angels in heaven are spotless, pure and holy, and yet when they compare to God they excel in humility and humble before God.  And also the Lord Jesus Christ was the most excellent of all as he is God but when he became a man he was the most perfect man, without sin, holy and righteous, yet he excelled in humility more than any other creature in heaven or in earth. He was meek and lowly of heart.

So humility is always comparative to a higher glory.  Humility is not an attribute of God.  Because God cannot compare to a higher glory, he is the highest glory, the most majestic high and awesome God.  So God cannot be humbled to anything. Because he is perfect in his glory. Humility is for all his created beings. So humility is a comparison with another being.  And it is the same with one another. As apostle Paul said;

Ro 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

First in the sight of God, we realize we are lowly creatures in comparison to his awesome majesty.  Abraham realized his nothingness when he said;

Ge 18:27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:

We need to have a sense of nothingness as compared with God. Some may have a low esteem when they compared themselves to other men, yet they do not have a nothingness compared with God.  If we are living in the presence of God, we need to be humble before God always, and humility will not appear in church and disappear after church.  Humility is a natural thing to the regenerated man.

Just like we need to compare ourselves with God, as he is the superior high being, now we need to have a comparison among ourselves, in our relation to one another. The true humble man realize how small his knowledge is, and he is weak, his strength is little, he needs God's wisdom and power to guide him. His flesh is weak and he is subject to the authority of God, his feelings and emotions are subject to his authority as he realizes that his strength and our fleshly emotions are weak.  Our flesh is stubborn but we yield to his will and not our will, this is humility. Before the fall, man was made upright and perfect and the comparison of himself to God is different after the fall.

After the fall with sin we became utterly depraved and filthy before God. The truly humble person sees himself how pure and holy God is and how filthy and dirty man is. Let us see in scripture.

Isa 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

Job 42:5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
 6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

Ps 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Ps 57:11 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth.

Mt 5:3  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

As we saw even the angels in heaven see how lowly they are in the site of God, then how much more we should be. The angels are not defiled or sinful as men, yet they realize when compared to God they are not clean.

Job 15:15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

Job 4:18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:
 19 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

A truly humble man sees how unworthy they are in the God's presence.

Ge 32:10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.

2Sa 7:18  Then went king David in, and sat before the LORD, and he said, Who am I, O Lord GOD? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?

The devil and the demons know how great is the power of God, yet they do not have true humility. Only a true Christian born of the spirit of God will have true humility. Humility is the first sign of your Christian walk. The devil is of full of pride and so are his followers. The proud man has a high opinion of himself, his own strength, his own righteousness, his own self-confident.

The devil and his followers will never confess their sins.  The humble man will not do things in secret, he will not cover up his sins, and in front he will come, as everything is fine.  But in secret, and in darkness it is a different story.

Jas 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

If you do not confess your weaknesses and faults to one another you become a stumbling block to others.  Pride is arrogant, stubborn and will not bend down.  It will think they are right in their own opinions but many will stumble in their stubbornness.

Mt 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

If you do not confess your sins, you can pray all day but God will not listen to your prayers.

Ho 7:13 Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.
 14 And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me.
 15 Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me.

The true Christian who has humility tends to prevent a willful stubborn behavior. They realize that they are under the influence of a humble spirit.

Ro 12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

The true humble man gives all the glory to God.

Ps 115:1  Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.

The true humble man is subject to the divine will of God, to the commands of God, to his providence.  He will not murmur when the hard times comes, he will realize all he deserve is hell but it is God's grace that sustains him. And even in heavy trials his humility will excel.

Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

If the Lord gives more talent and more ability to one person than the other the true humble man will not try to parade and display and show off his talents.

Mt 23:5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments.

Ro 12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

Humility has no place in arrogant behavior.

Php 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Eph 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

The humble spirit not only is inward but also it will show outwardly.

1Pe 3:3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
 4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

We do not do anything according to our will but we need to be subject to the will of God alone.  We need to crucify this flesh, which is absolutely stubborn and arrogant.  The devil will tempt us to do things which look right and pleasing to the flesh and our emotions but we need to resist the devil.

Jas 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

If we have a proud spirit you are coming against God's authority refusing to obey have decided to live in disobedience, refusing to conform to his will and trusting in your own righteousness, and they will fall into the same condemnation of the devil.

1Ti 3:6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.

Pr 6:16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

Finally we all need to earnestly seek much of a humble spirit, to be humble in our behavior toward God first and then to our fellow men. This can happen by knowing God by seeing how unworthy you are when you see his majesty. Do not trust yourself! Understand how weak you are, rely on God and give all the glory to God alone.  Yield yourself to his will and serve him. Avoid stubbornness, vain ambitions and self-justifying behavior. Strive yourself to be like Christ, where he manifested the true humble spirit when he was on the earth.  Consider your motives. Jonathan Edwards said, "Humility is the attendant of every grace, and in a peculiar manner tends to the purity of Christina feeling.  It is the ornament of the spirit, the source of the sweetest exercises of Christian experience, the most acceptable sacrifice we can offer to God, the subject of the richest of his promises, the spirit with which he dwell on earth, and which he will crown with glory in heaven hereafter.  Earnestly seek, then, and diligently and prayerfully cherish, a humble spirit, and God shall walk with you here below, and when a few more days shall have passed, he will receive you to the honors bestowed on his people at Christ's right hand."